Snap-hook



(No ModL) D. B.. ADAMS.

SNAP HOOK.

Patented Dec. 30, 1890.

amve'fitoz @Hlozmmp w-btmaoo as NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DON n. ADAMS, or FORT woRTarEXAs.

SNAP-HOOK.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 443,630, dated December 30, 1890.

Application filed September 15, 1890. Serial No. 364,979- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that 1, Don B. ADAMS, a resident of Fort Worth, in the county of Tarrant and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Snap-Hooks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the inven tion, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The object of the invention is to provide a hook of simple construction that shall be securely locked when in use, and that shall then also be without an exposed point liable to catch upon or be caught by lines, chains, rings, or other articles, and which also, when not in use, shall present a locking-lever to the ring, line, or other part with which it is to be engaged, in such manner that the introduction of said article shall act upon the arm of the lever to throw it into a locked position, in which position it retains the ring in the hook; and it consists in the matters herein-c after described, and particularly pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a transverse section through the body of the hook. Fig. 3 is a rear edge view, and Fig. 4 is a side view.

Reference-letter 0 denotes the hook, and t the usual strap-receiving loop. These parts may be of any convenient or usual form or size.

d indicates a short slot formed in the extreme end of the hook, and h is a longer slot formed in the body-of the same opposite the point.

a 1) denote. the two arms of a bell-crank lever pivoted at 7c in the sloth. This slot is made sufliciently long toward the loop' end of the hook to receive the arm I) of the lever when it is thrown back in that direction, and upon the other side of the pivot 70 the slot is adapted to receive the arm a, of the lever when the latter is in the position indicated in Fig. 1.

Adjacent to the pivot 70, at the back of the angle of the lever, the slot h is out entirely through the hook.

f isa spring secured at one end to the hook, and having its other end bent at right angles and adapted to enter a notch or hole 9 in the lever.

g indicates a thumb-piece secured to the spring, by which the latter can easily be withdrawn from engagement with the lever at c. When so withdrawn, the lever a b can easily be turned by a slight pressure outward on the arm 1). This can be effected by moving the hook so that the contained ring or other article strikes the inner face of the lever-arm b, whereupon it is carried outwardly and backwardly into the groove 71., the arm a at the same time being moved into the position indicated in Fig. 4. At such time the bent end of the spring f will bear upon the rounded elbow of the lever adjacent to slot e, and the spring will be under a small degree of tension.

To introduce the ring, link, or other article, it is brought against the outside of leverarm a when in the position shown in Fig. 4, by which the lever is thrown into the locked position, (see Fig.,l,) the ring being at the same time carried into the hook.

The spring f is represented as passing through the shank of the hook and having its end upset or clinched therein; but any convenient mode of securing it may be employed. It is preferably arranged to lie in a suitable groove formed in the back of the hook.

The thumb-piece is preferably inclined or rounded at its ends to present as little angular project-ion as practicable, and for a like reason the slot 7L is made sufliciently deep to receive the arms of the lever, and the latter are suitably chamfcred or rounded; also, slot d is made of such depth and the'arm b so proportioned that when the latter is locked in the slot it guards the point. of the hook, and the two together present an approximately rounded surface not liable to catch into other objects.

Having thus described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A hook having a recess in the inner face of its shank, extending in front of and to the rear of the point of the hook, with a slot through the shank near its central portion, in

combination with a. notched be1l-crank1ever In testimony whereof I have signed this pivoted in said recess opposite the'slot, either specification in the presence of two subscribend of said lever being adapted to lie lengthing witnesses.

Wise in the recess, and a spring located in a DON B. ADAMS. 5 recess on the outside of the body and no I 'Witnesses:

vided with a bent portion engaging the notch, E. MORT. REI LY,

FRANK L. TWOMBLY.

substantially as set forth. 

